7. The land cession treaties increased colonial contact with Iroquois leaders
In the 1720s colonial governors of the British colonies along the eastern seaboard faced hostilities on all fronts. Pirates and during times of war privateers and fleets of enemy warships threatened the tiny communities huddled along the coastline. Those settlements and plantations further inland faced attacks and raids by natives on the frontier. Various native tribes, including those of the Iroquois, fought with each other, further endangering the frontier settlements. In 1721, member tribes of the Iroquois were at war with several Virginia tribes. That year Virginia governor Alexander Spotswood invited representatives from the Five Tribes to Williamsburg, Virginia. The meeting, held in October, was attended by representatives of each of the five, three of whom died during the discussions. Also attending were members of the Virginia tribes, who fell under suspicion of having murdered the Iroquois representatives.
Spotswood negotiated an agreement with the Iroquois in which the Five Tribes recognized the Potomac River as the boundary between their lands and those rightfully occupied by the Virginia tribes. Thus, an English governor negotiated a treaty of peace between the Indians. He also extracted a promise that the corresponding tribes would not cross the boundary without the consent of the governor of Virginia, or his designated representative. Spotswood came away from the meetings with an understanding of the power of the Iroquois Confederation, and its ability to affect future relations between British North America and the Natives. Spotswood called for a meeting with the Iroquois sachems and the governors of the colonies of Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, to be held near Albany in the late summer of 1722. The Albany Conference became the largest between Natives and the British to that time.